


The Lost Magician

by aForgottenWeasley



Series: Blurred Lines [20]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Magicians (TV)
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Gen, Kidnapping, Magician!Darcy, past romantic relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2019-06-28
Packaged: 2020-05-28 15:10:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19396705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aForgottenWeasley/pseuds/aForgottenWeasley
Summary: #289 "Oh, fuck off."When Darcy, Pepper and Natasha are overpowered, and Natasha's badly injured while Pepper's been knocked unconscious, Darcy must call upon an old friend and expose a part of herself that she's tried to put behind her.





	The Lost Magician

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sure this ficlet looks familiar. I've posted it before, but I pulled it down because I deleted the other series it was posted under. Now it's new home is here.

Shit. Shit. _Double shit_.

Darcy anxiously paces the stone cell that she, Pepper and Natasha have just been tossed in, she regretting ever staying in touch with superheroes after Jane had unofficially let her go when Thor whisked her away to Asgard. She had planned to learn how to stand on her own two feet, and she had for a while, but then Clint came back into her life one night while drinking at a bar and then soon followed Natasha, Steve, Pepper and Tony.

Natasha had been rather intimidating at first, so Pepper made it her mission to get the two females comfortable with each other. It worked, and Darcy and Nat had soon become better friends than either of them had anticipated.

So with Avengers back in her life, it was only a matter of time before their enemies found the one weakness they all had in common. Darcy herself.

Normally, Natasha could take care of herself and another individual. And since Darcy had been taking self-defense lessons from her friends, she could briefly hold her own in a fight. But swarm after swarm of thugs in tactical gear ambushed the three ladies while enjoying a relaxing week at the Banyan Tree Samui in Thailand, and not only did Natasha try protecting herself but she also tried to protect Darcy and Pepper simultaneously. For her troubles Natasha took a bullet to the knee and another to the shoulder, Pepper was knocked unconscious as she tried calling in back-up, and Darcy got smacked around a bit after taking down two thugs with her trusty taser.

"Save your energy," Natasha says quietly, holding Darcy's torn plaid button-up to the wound on her shoulder. "You and Pepper are going to have to help me if we want to get out of here alive."

Darcy scoffs. "Nat, we're in the middle of nowhere. That little window up there," she says, pointing to a bar covered window that could barely fit a toddler, "shows nothing but jungle. And I swear I heard some large cat on the prowl outside."

"We couldn't have gone far," Natasha tiredly muses. "I wasn't out for long and you said they drove us by vehicle, so we're still in Thailand."

"No shit." Natasha blandly stares at Darcy, the brunette then cringing at her words. "I'm sorry. I just- I don't like cells and I want out."

"Get it together, Lewis. You're no good to us if you have a panic attack."

" **Oh, fuck off.** " She can feel her chest tightening and if she was uncomfortable before, she's 10X more uncomfortable now. But then Pepper groans as she groggily comes to and Darcy has something else to focus on. "Hey. Hey, take it slow," she says as Pepper tries to sit up.

"T-Tony?"

"Darcy," she regrettably admits. "We couldn't get a SOS out before they brought us in. They also stripped of us everything but our clothes, so our panic buttons were taken, too."

Pepper whimpers. "Where are we?"

"We're not sure." After Darcy helps Pepper get situated so she's sitting up against the wall, she then stands and heads over to check on Natasha and make sure the makeshift bandage around her knee is not loosening. "But I think- God, I'm so sorry- I think I can get us out of here."

Natasha's bloody hand falls atop of Darcy's trembling ones as they tighten the bandage, she frowning. "Unless you've got some hidden abilities that we don't know about, it's best we sit tight and gather our strength to fight it out later." She smiles to try and lighten the mood, but at Darcy's crestfallen expression her brow pulls together in confusion. "Darcy, you don't actually have abilities, do you? I've read your file front to-"

"It's- it's new," she stammers and then stands to put some space between her and Natasha. "I only did about a year and a half of schooling before it all became too much. It's- it was a lot like Harry Potter, actually, only it was college for the magical adept. There were no wands, it was a lot more terrifying, and not at all whimsical and fun like the fantasy books make you believe."

"Darcy," Pepper says sadly. "Why didn't you-"

"Tell anyone?" She guesses, scoffing. "I didn't want to be on SHIELD's radar. I didn't want Clint acting weird around me and I didn't- I'm not cut out for this stuff! If people found out- _if Steve found out_ \- he'd push for me to train and join the superhero club, but I can't. I can't, Pepper," she sniffles.

Though her expression is carefully put together, Darcy can tell Natasha doesn't exactly know how to handle this news. Ever since Loki, any talk of magic put a lot of people on edge. "When did you start?" She asks.

"A-As soon as I got back into the States," she mumbles. "After Jane, I thought I could go back to school. And I did, only it wasn't normal school like I thought it'd be." The two women don't exactly know what to say to her admission and Darcy suddenly thinks that this was a mistake. But now that the cat's out of the bag, there's no shoving it back in.

"Darce, can you get us out of here?" Natasha asks, gulping as she straightens up. Pepper suddenly looks a bit hopeful and Darcy feels terrible about letting them down.

"I can't. I couldn't even finish magic school," she sighs dejectedly. Natasha sighs as well and Pepper slumps in defeat. "But.. I think I know someone who can." Darcy rushes to the other side of their cell, she sitting with her back to the wall and crosses her legs as if she were about to meditate. "You just- you have to trust me. Trust _us_. We're not bad people, I swear."

"Darcy," Pepper softly speaks. "We adore you. I can't speak for Natasha, but I trust your judgement."

Darcy looks to Natasha. "I wish you would have told me," she says. "But I understand why you kept your secret under wraps." Natasha then grimaces as she shifts her position on the ground again. "So if you didn't finish school, how does your lack of magic help us?"

Darcy takes a couple of deep breaths and closes her eyes. "The other Magicians that were assigned to my Discipline specific house, a house for those who are focused on one particular brand of magic, were like stoners. Entertaining for sure, but just not my cup of tea. Not anymore, at least. But then Penny came around, a Psychic and Traveler, and we were.. good friends."

Natasha faintly smirks. "Which is code for fuck buddies. You slept with her."

"I slept with _him_ ," Darcy admits. "It was fun, but that's all. His heart belonged to someone else and I- I just needed someone to ground me at Brakebill's. Penny and his friends did that for a while."

"Okay, so how can this Penny guy help us?" Pepper wonders.

"Like I said, he's a Psychic and Traveler. Travelers can travel anywhere in just the blink of an eye, so if I mentally or verbally call out to him he might be able to hear me and come find us. Maybe. I'm not sure how his magic actually works."

Neither Pepper or Natasha say another word, so Darcy settles in to calm her racing heart and mind. Taking a few more deep breathes, she mentally calls out, [ _Penny, I really hope you can hear me right now because I'm in deep shit and I need your help. It's Darcy, by the way. Penny. Penny! Please, hear me. I'm afraid they're going to kill us very soon. Please find me._ ]

Blinking open her eyes, she's met with one hopeful expression and one bland. "So what now?" Natasha asks.

"I dunno." Darcy takes a gulp before casting her gaze around the room and in a last ditch effort, she says aloud, "Penny! Penny, help me. They're going to kill us if you don't find me. Please, Pen. Please," she pleads.

"Darcy," Pepper smiles sadly, shaking her head. "It's okay. Calm down."

Darcy blinks at her, suddenly aware that she's crying. She quickly wipes the tears from her face, sniffling and then coming up with another idea. "What's the most annoying song you two know?"

Pepper takes a moment to think on it, but Natasha already has a song in mind. "Barbie Girl. I played it on loop for Stark after he pissed me off one day and he cracked after the third loop."

Despite their predicament, Pepper snorts a laugh and Darcy grins. "Weakling." Then settling in, Darcy starts humming the rather catchy tune to will the lyrics to pop up in her mind. [ _I'm a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world. Life in plastic, it's fantastic. You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere. Imagination, life is your creation._ ] "Come on, Pen. Come find me. Follow the annoying song. Just.. hear me, goddammit." [ _I'm a blond bimbo girl, in a fantasy world. Dress me up, make it tight, I'm your dolly. You're my doll, rock'n'roll, feel the glamour in pink. Kiss me here, touch me there, hanky panky_ ].

"This was a bad idea," Natasha grumbles.

For hours Darcy hums the song, ignoring the pitying looks as she curls up in a corner and eventually dozes off.

* * *

_Darcy's strapped down to a table, her head the only part of her body that she's able to move. To her left lays Natasha and to her right is Pepper, but something's.. something's wrong. Pepper's whimpering and struggling against her own bindings, but Natasha.. Natasha's eerily quiet and staring rather lifeless up at the stone ceiling._

_"N-Nat?" She mumbles. "Nat!"_

_"She's dead. She's dead," Pepper cries. "She was too much of a threat. She was the only one who could fight back and that they were afraid of."_

_Tears well up in Darcy's already puffy eyes, they falling a moment later. She struggles even harder against her bindings, screaming her throat raw. She doesn't want to die. She can't! She still has so much to accomplish in life and if she dies now-_

"D? What the hell kind of dream is this?"

_"I don't wanna die, Pep. I don't wanna die. There's still so much-"_

"Darcy. Look at me." _Hands cradle her face, tilting her face to stare up at a familiar brown face, concern etched in his expression. It's Penny._ "You're dreaming, D. You need to wake up."

_She's tired. Oh so tired. Weakly shaking her head, she says, "This isn't a dream. This is going to be my reality soon enough."_

_His brow furrows._ "What are you talking about?"

_"This room isn't that different from where I currently am. I think," she frowns and pulls on her bindings. "Tables are new though."_

"Focus, Darcy. Where are you? I can find you, you know I can. I just need-"

_"T-Thailand. We're in Thailand." The door to the room opens and several men enter the room, rolling along a cart that holds some terrifying pieces of machinery. Darcy whimpers as she realizes what they're carting along, and not even Penny trying to grab her attention works._

"It's not real. It's not real, Darcy. Your dream, your control. Just will it away."

_But the men keep coming closer until they're settled by the end of the table by her head. They shove a rubber mouth piece in her mouth, and at Darcy's muffled screaming Penny starts to rush at the men. But since it's a dream, he merely passes right through them._

"Darcy! It's. Not. Real!" _Some type of oil is massaged on her temples and then the cold metal of round shock paddles are pressed there. Over her screaming and muffled pleading, she can hear the swearing of her friend._ "It's not fucking real, D! Think of something else. Come on, Darce. Anything else."

_But her mind is stuck on her current situation and a moment after the ominous click of a dial, Darcy arches up in pain as electricity courses through her brain._

Darcy screams awake, drenched in ice cold water. Her chest heaves as she tries to catch her breath, the door to their cell slams shut, and Darcy realizes a moment later that she had fallen asleep. "What- what-"

"You were screaming," Pepper tells her. "We couldn't wake you up and the guards didn't like the screaming. They brought us food, though."

"First rule of being kidnapped," Natasha mumbles. "Don't eat the food. It's most likely laced with sedatives."

Darcy looks at her, frowning that her friend is on the verge of needing some medical attention as soon as possible. "Hang on," she tells her. "I think- I had a visit from Penny. He'll be looking now. I'll just have to mentally call out to him every now and again."

Natasha sighs. "That's good. Our captives don't appear to be in any hurry. No one knows we're missing yet and the morons are talking about ransoming us. They're not super villains, they're just money hungry assholes who got lucky."

Darcy scoffs. "Typical." Her stomach grumbles and she casts the food and water a yearning look, but Natasha upends the water and tray with a grunt. "You suck, Tash."

"You'll thank me when you actually have the energy to fight back should someone try anything with you."

The women all go quiet, Natasha because her energy levels are already low and Pepper because being kidnapped is exhausting. As she gives them a reprieve of quiet, Darcy bends her knees and hugs them to her chest. Then laying her head atop her knees, she starts mentally singing 'Barbie Girl' again.

**\- X -**

"Jesus fuckin' Christ, Penny!" Darcy suddenly yells, staring up at the ceiling. "Can you just find us already?!"

Natasha's head lolls to the side and Pepper snorts awake. Aggravated at getting nowhere, Darcy pushes herself up to her feet and angrily paces the room while mumbling beneath her breath.

After giving her a moment to vent her frustrations, Pepper says to her, "Maybe you should get your mind off of everything going on. Why don't you show us some magic?"

Her irritated glare lands on Pepper before softening, she throwing out one last mental threat/plead to Penny before sliding down against the wall opposite Pepper and Nat. Taking a deep breath because her friends don't deserve any of her attitude, Darcy lightly shakes out her arms. Hands in her lap, she then says, "I'm not sure what to show you. I didn't finish my schooling."

"Show us what you can." Natasha then mumbles.

Darcy feebly nods, and then concentrating briefly she brings her hands together, palm to palm an inch apart. "Funny little thing they don't tell you," she says, hands and fingers already moving in an intricate dance. "Magic doesn't come from talent. It comes from _pain_." Then as she slowly pulls her hands further apart, a dark blue energy crackles before a small dark storm cloud manifests between her hands. "My discipline was natural magic. I can manipulate natural elements."

"It's beautiful," Pepper breathes as the rolling clouds fade away.

**\- X -**

Darcy spends the next couple of hours making it rain outside, holding onto her anger and pain to fuel her concentration on spell casting. Pepper holds the cup between the bars, filling the cup up enough to rinse out any lingering traces of drugs and then refilling it with clean water to drink.

It's when the sun's setting yet again that something new happens, shouting and gunfire making the three women perk up. When it goes momentarily quiet, two voices can be heard arguing. One seems rather agitated and running on adrenaline, and the other- feminine- blandly, yet amusingly talks about not having seen this much excitement in a while.

"Margo?" Darcy mumbles quietly. But Pepper and Natasha hear her, and as the voices continue talking, she's even more sure she knows those voices. "PENNY! MARGO! We're in here!"

The voices cease and then..

" _Darcy?_ "

"Yes! We're in here," she yells, running up to the metal door and pounding on it with her fists. "We're in here!"

" _Hold tight, D. We're going to get you out_." Margo had always been Darcy's favorite, after Penny of course, what with her blunt and sassy attitude.

Several runic designs start to glow on the door and Darcy quickly jumps aside. The hinges on the door explode and the door is knocked down just before two figures rush in. Penny and Margo.

In the next second Darcy finds herself wrapped in a pair of strong, brown arms, her face pressed into the neck of her ex-lover. "Jesus Christ, D. Never fucking again, you hear me? This is not how I imagined our little reunion going."

Darcy snorts and when she has a moment to pull back she finds Margo slowly pacing the room with a wrinkled nose. "Ew," her friend mutters, fluffing her hair as if preparing to get down to work. "This place is not fit for a Queen. Couldn't they have at least given you a bed?" 

Darcy huffs a laugh. "Margo," she says, shaking her head. "Rescue now, bitch later. I'm sure our kidnappers heard your little explosion. They'll be coming."

"On the contrary, my friend," Margo grins. "Penny and I warded up both ends of the hallway after taking care of a few.. pests. No one's getting in until we pop out of here." Margo continues to pace the small cell, dragging a finger along the walls. "Seriously, these people have no imagination. You'd think that with a Queen in their midst they'd have asked for so much more than what we overheard them asking for."

"Q-Queen?" Pepper stammers.

Darcy groans and hides her face in Penny's chest. "Not now, Pep. Later, I promise."

"Now sounds like a perfectly good time," Natasha says, grimacing as she tries to stand. She does, but her weight is on one leg only and her palm is pressing to the wound on her shoulder. "Apparently no one's getting in, so what else haven't you told us?"

Darcy feels Penny tense against her, his chin resting atop her head, content on not letting her go. And huh. That's a new development. She could have sworn Penny was all about Kady. He was never the cuddly type with her. "An Avenger, Lewis? Seriously? You really know how to pick your friends, don't you?"

"If it makes you feel any better," she mumbles, "I knew about half of the Avengers before I attended Brakebills."

"Oh, gross," Margo suddenly groans. "That's a lot of blood."

"You think?" Natasha deadpans.

Margo looks offended for exactly two seconds before she's smirking at Natasha. "Oh, I like you. Darcy should have introduced us sooner." Darcy turns her head to look at her other magically adept friend, she finally leaving the safety of Penny to help Natasha stand. "I brought some healing potions for Darcy since Penny was freaking out after he transported into her dream, but you seem like you need them more."

Margo holds a few vials out to Natasha, but the redhead merely stares at them. It takes Darcy grabbing them and uncorking a couple, she then holding them out for Natasha to take when she's ready. "I trust them," she tells Nat. "If I needed these more than you, I'd swallow them in a heartbeat. But seeing as you can barely stand and look paler than normal, you need to take them."

Natasha reluctantly takes the vials, drinking the potions while staring blandly at the two newcomers. The potions kick in, in less than a minute, Natasha then standing straighter with a healthy flush to her cheeks. She nods tersely to Margo in thanks and then stumbles over to Pepper to check her over herself.

"So if we're all ready now, can we go?" Darcy asks. "I really need a shower, food and like.. a bed so I can sleep for a couple days straight."

"Yeah," Penny says. "Lets get out of here." Margo immediately takes up his right hand and Darcy takes up his left. Then looking to Natasha and Pepper, he says, "Just clasp hands and interlock your fingers with each other. Then take up Margo and Darcy's hands to close the circle. I'll transport us to a place I'm familiar with and then you can tell me where to go from there."

Darcy takes Pepper hand with a smile, but the blonde's knowing smirk unsettles her. "Queen Darcy, huh? I can't wait to hear all about this."

"You would," she sighs. "Don't get too excited. Being one of the Queen's of Fillory isn't as grand as it sounds."

Penny snorts. "You got that right." And then within the blink of an eye, the group is whisked away to safety.


End file.
